Fence posts

ABSTRACT

A FENCE POST HAVING A SLOT OR RECESS IN ONE EDGE WITH A KEEPER TO ENABLE EASY INSERTION OF THE FENCE WIRE BUT RESILIENTLY BIASED TO PREVENT WITHDRAWAL THEREOF. THE KEEPER IS A U-SHAPED PIECE OF WIRE WITH ARMS OF UNEQUAL LENGTH. EACH ARM HAS AN END PORTION WHICH IS BENT OVER   TOWARD THE OTHER ARM AND THESE END PORTIONS ARE INSERTED INTO TWO HOLES WHICH ARE DRILLED THROUGH THE POST.

J. M. FARRELL FENCE POSTS Filed June 1969 s pt. 26(1971 Fly. 1.

United States Patent 3,606,259 FENCE POSTS James Michael Farrell,Walcha, New South Wales, Australia, assignor to Bessie May Larter,Northbridge, New South Wales, Annie Maude Taylor, Leichhardt, New SouthWales, and Mabel Margaret Wise, Paddington, New South Wales, Australia,fractional part interest to each Filed June 6, 1969, Ser. No. 831,155Int. Cl. E04h 17/24 US. Cl. 25648 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Afence post having a slot or recess in one edge with a keeper to enableeasy insertion of the fence wire but resiliently biased to preventwithdrawal thereof. The keeper is a U-shaped piece of wire with arms ofunequal length. Each arm has an end portion which is bent over towardthe other arm and these end portions are inserted into two holes whichare drilled through the post.

This invention relates to post and wire fences.

More particularly, the invention relates to fences in which the post isa metal strip either alone, or as is more usual, as one flange of a Yangle, or other sectioned post.

Hitherto, the wires have been secured to such metal posts by clips,tie-wires, or other means which have usu ally called for time consumingfixing operations by a person erecting the fence.

With the foregoing in mind, the present invention was devised to providea fence post which provides for simple and quick aflixture of the wireto the post.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved keeper over theopen end of a recess in a metal fence post; that keeper being a U-shapedbody having arms of unequal length which are secured in two holes in themetal post adjacent the recess.

The invention consists in the provision in a fence post of the kindcomprising a metal strip, of fence wire retaining means comprising arecess formed in one edge of said strip and a resilient keeper fixed tosaid strip and extending across the mouth of the recess; the arrangementbeing such that the fence wire may be forced into said recess b-ydeforming said keeper and thereafter is retained in the recess by thekeeper.

By way of example, an embodiment of the above described invention isdescribed hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a fence post including wireretaining means in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the fence post portion of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the fence post portion of FIG. 1.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a Y sectionedmetal post 4 of which one flange 5 constitutes the metal strip of thepost at that term is used herein.

A recess 6 (FIG. 2) is formed in the free edge of the flange 5. Therecess 6 is in the nature of a slot extending inwardly and downwardlyfrom the edge of the flange 5,

3,606,259 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 "ice thus, the mouth of the recess 6is disposed above an upwardly directed prong 7, being a portion of theflange 5 defining the outer edge of the lower part of the recess 6.

A resilient wire keeper 8 is provided in the shape of a letter U ofwhich one arm 9 is longer than the other arm 10 and each of whichterminates in an inwardly directed end portion (9A and 10A respectively)disposed in the plane of the U-shaped clip. Thus the end portion 10A ofthe shorter arm 10 of the U is directed towards and may contact thelonger arm 9 of the U intermediate its ends; whereas the end portion 9Aof the longer arm 9 of the U projects in the opposite direction and isparallel to the end portion 10A of the shorter arm 10.

The keeper 8 is secured to the fence post 4 by means of two holes 11 and12 respectively piercing the flange 5 disposed one above the other andboth above the recess 6.

The keeper 8 is disposed so that the end portion 9A of the longer arm 9extends through the upper hole 11 from one side of the flange '5 and theend portion 10A of the other arm 10 extends through the lower hole 12from the other side of the flange 5 and the bight portion of the Uextends downwardly across the mouth of the recess 6 to make contact withthe upper edge of the prong 7.

For preference, the upper edge of the prong 7 is inclined so that itstip engages the bight portion of the keeper 8 positively to prevent thekeeper 8' moving outwardly of the recess 6 but permitting the bight tomove inwardly of the mouth of the recess 6 (as shown in broken lines inFIG. 2) due to resilient deformation of the arms 9 and .10.

When a fence wire is to be secured to the above described fence post itis simply thrust laterally through the mouth of the recess 6 to forcethe keeper 8 inwardly until the wire may move downwardly into the bottomof the recess 6 clear of the keeper 8 which then returns to its formerposition and positively traps the wire.

The illustrated U-shaped wire retainer and its mode of affixture to thepost constitutes a preferred form of the invention. However, it will beappreciated that other resilient retainers may be used. For example, aresilient metal leaf may be spot welded or otherwise secured to thefence post so as to extend as a retainer across the mouth of a recesstherein.

It is desirable to have the top wire of a fence as close to the top ofthe posts as possible, therefore, the recess of the retaining means forthe topmost wire may be similar to the recess 6 illustrated in thedrawings but inverted so that the portion of the slot extendinglongitudinally of the post extends upwardly rather than downwardly. Inthis instance, if a keeper similar to keeper 8 is used it also would beinverted so as to extend upwardly across the mouth of the recess.

I claim:

1. In a fence post having a projecting flange, fence wire retainingmeans comprising a recess opening from one edge of said flange, aresilient keeper carried by said flange, said keeper being a U-shapedpiece of wire with arms of unequal length, each arm having an endportion directed toward the other arm, said keeper being secured to saidflange by locating said end portions in two holes in said flange whichare longitudinally spaced unequal dis tances from said recess so thatthe keeper extends across the mouth of the recess and is biassed tonormally close said mouth.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said recess is a slot 805,785 extendinginwardly from and thereafter longitudinally of 5 851,445 the edge ofsaid flange. 5

3. The device of claim 1 having a prong along the 1,050,539 outer edgeof the recess with the b ight of said keeper contacting the inner edgeof said prong.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein said bight is resil- 10 iently biasedagainst said prong.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Engesetter 25648 Seymour 25648Saunders l 25648 Young 25648 Rohe 25648 Brown 25648 DENNIS L. TAYLOR,Primary Examiner

